Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya said earlier that Oleg Zubkov was responsible for the two cubs' deaths at the Skazka zoo in the resort city of Yalta

Park's owner Oleg Zublov feeding a lioness in Taigan Safari Park

SIMFEROPOL, December 10. /TASS/. The owner of two Crimean zoos on Thursday announced plans to close them in protest against a local prosecutor’s accusations that he caused the deaths of two white tiger cubs.

"We’ve decided to close the Taigan safari park and Skazka zoo as a protest. I will demand the resignation of the Crimean prosecutor," Oleg Zubkov said. "I am ready to consider relocating the zoos to another Russian region or another country."

Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya said earlier that Zubkov was responsible for the two cubs' deaths at the Skazka zoo in the resort city of Yalta. She also said he was standing trial for attacking a zoo keeper and may face up to three years in jail if convicted.

Commenting on Zubkov’s plans to close the zoos, Poklonskaya said the decision might be linked to his failure to keep the animals properly.

"He is most likely closing them as he cannot provide normal conditions to keep the animals," she said, adding that he could climb into a cage as a protest.

"He has already written an address telling me to resign. To put it mildly, this is the demand of some unbalanced and weird person. It’s not up to him to decide," Poklonskaya added.